When making a game, one of the difficult things is to write an engine.

You could easily make something that draws a few boxes on the screen, but you're gonna regret later when you want to add 500 boxes at once, that you didn't think about optimization.



I'm currently working on an engine to be the fundament of Ragdoll Fighters 3.



One of the advantages of switching to a real programming language rather than using Game Maker, is that I won't be limited to what Game Maker gives me.

In Game Maker there's one loading in the beginning, and that's it. You can't change it. You can change the image, and specify whether there should be a progress bar or not.



But now, without those limits, I can make it however I want, and I can even integrate the updater into the actual game.





Furthermore... The game will be compatible with both Windows XP and Vista (Even Windows 7) in one single executable, rather than having one for each OS.

Of course I could simply remove the normal executables from Ragdoll Fighters 2, and just keep the RagdollFighters2_VISTA.exe as it will run on XP too.

The problem however, is that I've experienced that the VISTA executables sometimes behaves weirdly. This problem will not be present in Ragdoll Fighters 3.





I'm still working on the engine, before I begin developing any game related components. I still need to work a lot on optimizations, etc.

You might have noticed the category called Ragdoll Fighters 3.


I recently had to re-format my computer, and my Windows XP CD is broken, so I had to install something else.

No way I'm going to anything pre-XP, so my only choices were either Vista or 7. I'm not going to install Linux or Mac.

Mac is just plain ridiculous shit, and I've gotten too used to Windows to switch to Linux. Also, I can't develop or play all my favorite games on Linux.

That means there was only Vista and 7 left. And since I'd rather stick a ragdoll up my ass than use Vista, I went for Windows 7.





One problem occurred because of this. I used Game Maker 6.1 to develop Ragdoll Fighters 1 and 2.
Game Maker 6.x is incompatible with Windows Vista and 7 natively. This is due to the zlib compression that has been done on the Game_Maker.exe and the Game Maker runner, which cannot be uncompressed in Vista.

Now, Game Maker 7 was made to work on Vista, and also works on 7, but the physics engine I use for Ragdoll Fighters does not work with Game Maker 7.

So where does that leave me?

Well... If I use Windows XP, I would be able to continue using Game Maker 6.x, and the physics engine would work like it should.
But, first of all, my XP CD is broken, and I really love Windows 7. Comparing Windows 7 and Windows Vista, is like comparing a Ferrari and a Lada. Windows 7 just blows anyone away. (Even Mark Shuttleworth (The mind behind the Linux distribution Ubuntu) likes it.

Anyway. Since that's not possible, I had to install Windows 7.
That way, I can't run Game Maker 6.1, and can't work on Ragdoll Fighters 2 (nor 1).

Great, right?

So, right now, I can't do shit about Ragdoll Fighters at all.





Now, where does Ragdoll Fighters 3 fit in all this?

Well... I've wanted (for quite some time) to switch away from Game Maker, and use something that give me more power, like C++, C#, etc.
My primary language is C#, so that's what I'm going to choose if I had to make anything.





Also, using a real programming language rather than Game Maker's GML scripting language, I get much more power and control.

Also because I'm not going to be restricted by anything other than people's hardware.

I know C#, so anything is a piece of cake for me in C#, compared to GML that has some weird uncontrolled and unexpected weirdness’s (Is that even a word?).



So right now, I have the choice between abandoning Ragdoll Fighters all along, or start from scratch, in a whole new environment.



Another advantage, COULD be (I'm not completely certain about this), a linux version.

C# requires Microsoft .NET Framework, and some people have been making their own ".NET Framework" called Mono.

This enables people with Linux to run applications written in any .NET language, such as VB, C#, J# and F#.

I'm not saying that it will run, and I will primarily focus on the Windows version.




I'm really eager to write RF in C# instead.



I'm currently trying to create the ragdolls from RF2, and try them off in C# and a completely new physics engine (open-source, which allows me to modify it, as I see fit), and I'll get back to you on that.





Leave a comment.


- Morten.




PS: All future posts about RF3 will be thrown in the RF3 category.